Commentary on life with a southern accent

Monday, November 27, 2006

Flopping Aces has an investigative piece that is pretty amazing -- not just because of the content, but how comprehensive it is. Curt at Flopping Aces has done an incredible job uncovering something the mainstream media should have caught. Read the entire, exhaustive report, but here is the overview. The story reported breathlessly by all major media outlets about multiple mosques being burned in Iraq, and several people being burned alive not only cannot be confirmed by U.S. officials, but the sole cited source of the information, Capt. Jamil Hussein, has a long history of being the sole source of information about atrocities being reported in Iraq. Read all of Curt's excellent report, including extensive updates, as well as See Dubya's analysis at JunkYardBlog.

Update: Just a few thoughts on this story...anytime I see a story like this, as with the Dan Rather "fake, but accurate" story, I wonder how many more stories out there that have been widely reported and swallowed without question, are suspect as well. Since the "fauxtography" stories broke earlier this year, you would think that the media would go the extra mile to get multiple sources and extensive confirmation for stories like this.

The thing that really has me perplexed is why so many of the stories, as with the instances of "fauxtography," would be faked, or exaggerated, when there is so much bad news coming out of Iraq right now. Isn't the real news bad enough? Is now the time the opponents of the US mission in Iraq need to be exaggerating or manufacturing bad news? Maybe these propagandists could take a lesson from Dan Rather. Prior to the Rathergate story, many people already believed it likely that George Bush had pulled some strings to stay out of Vietnam. Mapes' and Rather's use of obviously fake documents was not only unethical and unprofessional, but it was also unnecessary. That is how stuff like this strikes me -- absolutely unnecessary. The situation in Iraq is violent. People get that. If the MSM keep running stories like this one without doing a bit more homework, their credibility will suffer as Rather's did. To a great extent it already has.

Saturday, November 25, 2006

I had a lovely Thanksgiving, but the past few days of cooking and cleaing took their toll this morning when I woke up with a bad backache, which has put me pretty much out of commission today. My husband and daughter braved the crowds with my inlaws and actually found a few good deals that were not already sold out ten minutes after the doors opened this morning. Some of the stores near me actually opened at 12:30 a.m. this year. Next year I wouldn't be surprised to see earlier Thanksgiving night sales, for those wanting to get an even bigger jump on the "day after" shoppers. It just gets crazier and crazier every year.

I am not big on the shopping, but unfortunately I do get really into the food. In addition to the regular turkey, gravy, ham, dressing, sweet potatoes, green beans, potatoes, corn, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce and macaroni salad, this year we had beef brisket (prepared by my mother-in-law), and a broccoli and cheese casserole, and lots of delicious desserts. I sent a good bit of food home with everyone and still have a refrigerator full. Mmmm. Leftovers.

The best part (even better than the food) was having my family all gathered together. The worst part was when my batteries died in both my camcorder and digital camera at almost the same time. I missed capturing one image on film that I will keep forever, though. My six year old sang along to a "Doodlebops" CD at a kid's karaoke night that my dad was able to attend a few months ago. Since then, my stepmom told us, he had one of the songs, "The Wobbly Woopsy," stuck in his head. He danced along to the Wobbly Woopsy with my daughter yesterday and it was hilarious and sweet and I will never forget it.

Speaking of remembering, in my column at Townhall today I remember a dear friend who passed away earlier this year. I didn't get any time to access the computer yesterday with all the food to prepare and everyone here, but in my Thanksgiving Day column in the Examiner I list many ways to thank those in our armed forces who protect us and make it possible for us to enjoy the blessings we do. I left out one of the best ways to say thanks at the holidays, Operation Gratitude, but blogged about it here.

One last thing for now, on a personal note, congratulations to my friends Leigh and Rodney who got married today. I had hoped to make the wedding, but was not able to assume a fully upright position due to the backache. Best wishes for a long and happy life together. To everyone else, I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving Day and that you enjoy the rest of the holiday weekend.

For anyone looking for a really (and I mean REALLY) easy treat either to serve or give as a holiday gift, try these. For those wanting to tackle something more challenging, The Anchoress has a cake recipe that sounds yummy.

Let our soldiers use their massive advantages in firepower, training, and communications to take the fight to the enemy. Quit trying to fight a "nice" war. Such weakness does not result in a victory; to win a war the other side must realize that they cannot hope to win. It should go without saying, but if the other side doesn't feel defeated, then it isn't be defeated. Enable our soldiers to rely on their training and instincts and remove the overly cumbersome rules of engagement that restrict our soldiers to the point they are fighting a defensive war.

In the other post, Owens talks about why the way Democrats propose approaching Iraq is not a winning strategy.

Friday, November 10, 2006

Kim Priestap, my fellow Wizbanger, is an incredible blogger. In addition to the excellent work she does at Wizbang and at her own blog, she started a new blog called Embracing Momminess. It is great, just like everything else she does, and she has posted some great Christmas ideas. Be sure to visit and bookmark her site.

A friend of mine and her husband have written a beautiful children's book that would make an excellent Christmas gift, especially for North Carolinians since that is where the story is set. The name of the book is The Story of Two Toed Sam or How the Outer Banks Were Formed and it can be purchased at Fish Tales Publishing.

I was really annoyed when I saw Christmas decorations at my local Lowe's in early October, but now the time is approaching for me to start the shopping, decorating, and baking. The holidays will be here before you know it.

Thursday, November 09, 2006

I am a huge country music fan. I absolutely love it and listen all the time. I am also a huge Carrie Underwood fan. I have been impressed not only by her voice, but by how much she has accomplished over the past year and how well she has carried herself. She always appears beautiful, but more importantly she always acts beautiful, always coming across as gracious and sincere and genuinely humble and appreciative of her success.

I watched the CMT special that followed Underwood through the making of her debut album (CD for the kiddies). It is amazing what she accomplished in record short time. The producers and other professionals she worked with were impressed not only with her talent, but by her attitude and how hard she worked and how well she dealt with the stress of the situation. They started out skeptical that this American Idol winner was the real deal, but they were completely convinced by the timet he album was cut. My daughter received Underwood's CD for Christmas last year and we have listened to it over and over and over again. It is an excellent album. I can imagine almost any of the individual songs as hit singles.

I did not see the portion of the CMA awards that has been so controversial, but have since watched it several times on You Tube. I bought Faith Hill's excuse that she was joking until I read Leann Rimes' defense of her, which was anything but joking, and made me wonder. Here is the best report I have seen of the controversy. Here is Rimes' defense of Hill, which she has since pulled from her website.

"Okay, I usually keep quiet on topics like this but I feel I need to stand up for my friend, Faith. She was just being honest and emotional like every other person sitting at home with an opinion. These awards shows are SO political and we all get fed up with them. We all work very hard and have for many years so to see someone come in and win Female Vocalist that has been here for a VERY short time, is a little disheartening."

She went on to say, "That is why we have the Horizon award and Carrie had an incredible year, enough to sweep that one. I don't think Faith was angry about her loss, she probably felt, as I did that Carrie has not paid her dues long enough to fully deserve that award. As artists and public figures, we have to keep our feelings so repressed so we don't get called ungrateful as Faith has on this board many times now. She is a very sweet and gracious woman, whom I adore. Please cut her some slack!"

My response to that is bull. The award is for female vocalist of the YEAR, not for lifetime achievement. That is why we have living legend awards and other hall of fame type honors. Carrie Underwood has to date had three number one country singles from her debut album. (I don't think that even includes her first single, which was the American Idol pop hit.) It has been almost impossible to listen to country music radio over the past year for more than an hour without hearing a Carrie Underwood song. And the songs are really good. I love Martina McBride and Sara Evans and Gretchen Wilson, but even as successful as they have been, none of them have had the year Carrie Underwood has. The fact that this is her first album, in my mind, only makes her all the more deserving of the honor.

As for Faith Hill, she fell out of favor with many in the country audience when she went pop and did the acting thing. She attempted to come back to her country roots this past year with a song addressing what some fans think, titled Mississippi Girl, and it was well received. The song was great. She released at least one other single from the CD that I did not care for. If she had won the award I would not have said that she did not deserve it, but I would have thought she did not deserve it any more than Carrie Underwood or some of the others. Carrie had a bigger year than any of the others and in my mind was a very deserving winner. Congrats Carrie!

Update:This post and the fact that Hill made the gesture in a place she knew people would see her, has me convinced that Hill was almost certainly joking, but evidently her friend Leann Rimes wasn't.

Be sure to read Scott Elliott's take on the prospects of retaking the House in 2008 at Election Projection. He breaks it down district by district and adds commentary and analysis. I agree wholeheartedly with Scott's comments about "teaching lessons." Also check out the posts Scott refers to at Wizbang Politics.

Monday, November 06, 2006

Betsy Newmark and I will be attending a CNN blogger party election night in D.C., along with Kevin Aylward, Ed Morrisey, Scott Johnson, Jim Geraghty, La Shawn Barber, Pat Hynes, Mary Katharine Ham, James Joyner, as well as about a half dozen liberal bloggers. Betsy has all the details in this post. We will be blogging from the event.